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Well, our trip to Texas has come and gone. I have to say I really had a great time.

We left K.C. around 3 on Thursday with the intent of stopping in Wichita Falls, TX for the night. We didn't quite make it that far, stopping in Lawton, OK instead (about halfway point from OK city and Wichita Falls) at probably the worst motel I'd ever stayed in. It was a Days Inn, which are usually OK, but this one was old, dirty, packed with loud guests, and the air conditioner alternated from not working at all and rattling like a jackhammer. Plus they were out of king beds, so both of us sleeping on a double made it a little cramped. What's worse, we found out the next day when we left, if we had just stayed on the interstate a few minutes more, there was a Holiday Inn, Ramada Inn, Best Western, and La Quinta right down the road, and all looked much nicer than the shithole we stayed in.

We finally arrived in Sweetwater around 10:30 AM on friday, and we were exausted. We slept at my parents house for a few hours before finally getting around town and visiting with people. We decided to go to the Roscoe High School football game that evening to watch Tammy's brother Keith play. It was a great game, Roscoe slaughtered Winters, and we met up with family and friends we hadn't seen in a long time. For some it had been well over a year. At one point a boy came up to me selling raffle tickets, and I politely declined. As the boy walked away, my wife started calling him back, and it then occurred to me that it wasn't just any boy, but Benny's son, Zack. I could hardly recognize him, and he, until being reminded of who I was, didn't recognize me either. It's hard to believe it's been so long. I found Benny making his way to the stands, talking to each person along the way (sound familiar OT guys?) and we got to catch up a bit during the game. I especially had questions about a disturbing dream he blogged about not too long ago.

Saturday was the wedding, the very reason we came down to Texas. The ceremony was beautiful, and it was really great to see Tammy's family again. We have not seen any of her family since moving up here, and I know she has been missing them a great deal. Brenda (the sister who got married) was so very nervous, so out of character (she's usually the strong, proud type) that it got me a little choked up too. You could tell she was very, very happy. She had many concerns before the wedding (as I'm sure all brides-to-be do) that something or another would go wrong with the ceremony. Well, as it turns out, she had nothing to worry about. It was honestly one of the nicest wedding ceremonies I'd ever been too.

After the ceremony, we headed out to the Wagon Wheel Ranch for the dinner and dance. During the dinner, the mariachi (who also played during the ceremony) went around the room playing to different groups of people. These guys were good, too. I'm not much of a mariachi authority, and don't listen to much mariachi music, but I was impressed by these guys (and gal). The food was also great, although I was hoping for some good Mexican food, I wasn't complaining about the brisket they served.

The dance started a couple of hours after the dinner was finished, so we all headed out to buy beer and other goodies for the dance. The dance was a highlight of the evening, even though I didn't do much dancing. Our friends Benny, Mari, Isabelle and Tim showed up, and while the girls were interested mostly in the cumbias, the guys were more into the beer and conversation. We did dance a bit, and I usually like dancing at Mexican dances, but having not seen my friends in such a long time, I found myself wanting to chat more than anything (and drink beer).

After the dance, we headed off the Roscoe to see Benny and Mari's new place (new being relative, since they moved into it over a year ago). There we caught up a little more and drank a little more beer. Before we knew it, it was 3AM. Our original plans were to leave Sunday morning so we would have Monday to recover. This, obviously, changed our plans. So, we spent monday with my family messing around Sweetwater and talking. This gave me and Tammy the opportunity to get to know Andrea, my brother Steve's wife, alot better. They married a month before we moved to Kansas, so we had never really had a chance to get to know her. She's a lovely woman, and I can tell she's good for my brother. We're looking forward to a visit from them sometime soon.

We then headed back to Kansas early monday morning. The drive wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be, and only took around 10.5 hours, not the 12 hours mapquest estimates. Plus, with Tammy keeping me company, the drive went by relatively quickly. The longest seeming stretch was from Emporia, KS to Kansas City.

Now, it's back to our normal routine. It's hard to believe it will soon be a year since I left Texas. My, how time does fly. . .